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Teachers' Writing Corner

Little Emperors and Little Empresses

Mr. Fong Kong Joseph

Recently I have read a news article from the Guardian mentioning an
8-year-old Swedish girl, Saga, who discovered an old sword from a lake that
could date back to 1500 years ago. Reporters would link up the story with the
old English legend of a child who pulled up a sword from a stone and became
King Arthur of England.

In view of the popularity of movies like Frozen and Captain America in
Hong Kong, one would not have difficulty foreseeing the consequence should
the above incident happened in a lake in the New Territories. Within hours,
thousands of parents would flock to the lake with their children in swimsuits
and dive in the lake hoping to find another ancient sword or some precious
gems. Then, they could rightly claim their children as little emperors and little
empresses.

Indeed, our children are going to be future masters of society. But
expecting each kid to be of superior potential in all areas waiting to be realized
seems as mythical as the legend of King Arthur. With Dr. Howard Gardner’s
enlightening Theory of Multiple Intelligences, we now appreciate more of
the varied abilities of the youngsters. Some children are good at logical and
abstract thinking, while others excel in languages and social skills. We cannot
expect our children to be outstanding in all areas and regard them as little
emperors and empresses, simply after letting them take a few crash courses in
foreign languages, the harp or gymnastics.

Honour, Courage, Compassion, Respect, Loyalty, Honesty, Prudence and
Grace are some of the moral traits of a king or queen. If the Swedish sword
incident happened in Hong Kong, what chaos we would expect to see at the
lakeside, and what kinds of moral standards we could see then? The image of
groups of frost chasers who ignored safety warnings and got stranded in Tai
Mo Shan on a wintry night a couple of years ago is still vivid in our mind.

We all have potential to be Monster Parents, seizing every chance to find
treasure so that we can pamper our kids even more. On the other hand, Saga
the Swedish girl discovered the invaluable sword while helping her dad to put
a buoy in the shallow water of the lake to warn other boats. She was working
when she was granted a sword. We can also learn from Saga’s parents, who
gave the ancient sword to a local museum for exhibition, instead of claiming
it their own. Saga is now back at school. She says when she grows up, she
would like to be a vet, serving animals. Perhaps we could see some supreme
moral qualities of a 'royal' family here.

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